Cursed
by Shopper-mania
Summary: Challenge. Lily hides her beauty because of a curse and is shunned by Hogwart's population. But when she must go to the Christmas Ball in her true form, what will happen that will change her life forever? LJ.
1. Chapter 1

Cursed

Disclaimer: Don't own the characters but do own Kate and her friends.

This is for a challenge from The Marauders and Lily:

I want either a Harry/Ginny, Ginny/Draco or Lily/James (preferably the latter...) fic about how the girl is beautiful but hides her outer beauty because of her greatest secret. Not a one-shot. Not 80 million chapters either though. 10+ would be nice...I would like a masked ball to be where the girl meets the boy and the girl runs off. Like Cinderella sorta...I accept other pairs. Not some though. I don't like slash or platonic relationships turning into romance.

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_Darling,_

_Your father and I are very sorry but we have to go on a business trip so we won't be able to have you home. We tried to get out of it but it is extremely important. Stay at school but be careful and remember the curse ok? See you soon Darl._

_Love always_

_Mother_

Lily put down the letter and sighed. Every year she was able to avoid the Christmas Ball because she went home but now there was no way. Firstly, there was a rule that whoever stayed at Hogwarts had to go. It was the reason why most people stayed home. Secondly, once you passed the great hall doors on the night of the Ball, any spell or disguise you used on your body was gone. You could straighten you hair but that was about all you could do. She had kept this from her parents because she did not want them to worry. Well she knew she would not live to an old age so she might as well have a good time on the day of her death.

Lily went down the stairs and looked at the notice board. In McGonagall's scrawny writing was Hogsmede – 16th December.

'Why are you looking at the Hogsmede day freak? Want to buy some concealer and shampoo?'

Lily turned around and faced the popular, blond bimbo. Kate smirked 'Or perhaps you're looking for a dress for the Christmas Ball? A Suggestion- You might want to look in the two Knut shop.' The Kate clones had amused looks on their faces. Lily sighed again. The girls that put her through hell everyday.

'Get pissed'' '

'Tsk Tsk Evans! Temper.' Said a new voice joining the conversation. This time Lily groaned.

'Potter' she snarled.

James Potter smirked 'May I ask why you are abusing my girlfriend?'

Lily snorted 'Abusing? Why don't you go look in the mirror?' and she went back up the stairs to do 'homework'.

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Ok, I know it's short but I need to know if people like it and want me to continue. So please review and tell me.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Long time no see. My fault. I wanted to update some of my stories before the school holidays are over. 3 days, wish me luck!

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And it's you when I look in the mirror

_And it's you that makes it hard to let go_

_Sometimes you can't make it on your own_

_Sometimes you can't make it_

_The best you can do is to fake it_

_Sometimes you can't make it on your own_

Ok, Lily admitted, that was a terrible comeback. But of the top of her head it was the best she could do. Lily sighed and reached under her bed, pulling out a box that was transfigured so everybody but her only saw a spare blanket. She drew her curtains and opened the lid. She pulled out a bunch of photos and smiling flicked through them. She sighed again but this time wistfully as she recalled every detail that had happened in those photos. They where only non-magical photos, taken with her muggle friends and family- but most of all with Lily being in her true form.

Lily put the photos away and took out her homework. Smiling at the memories and fun times she had had, she started on her dreaded History of Magic essay.

Two hour later, Lily's homework being all done, she headed down to the Great Hall for lunch. As usual she sat all by herself, planning her trip to Hogsmede. Finishing of her lunch she got up and walked out of the great hall. 'Lupin!' she cried as she bumped into him,' Ohmygod! I'm so sorry'. 'It's ok Evans' Remus replied briefly smiling at her and then continued walking into the Great Hall, joining his friends. Remus was the only person, apart from Liz, who treated her with the tiniest bit of respect. He was unlike his other friends, James Potter and Sirius Black and the small boy Peter, who no one ever remembered. They called each other by their last names- it was the way things were done in Hogwarts, Lily had always thought it rather weird but she was already different enough, it wasn't like she was suddenly goign to call everyone by their first names. Her old school was like that, first name and everything. Another thing Lily hadn't gotten used to was the whole muggle thing. I mean why do wizards have to call them that. Its just like white and blacks. So what if wizards could do magic and well...'muggles' couldn't. Just one of those things, she guessed. To complicated she decided and continued back to the common room.

She went back up to her room and filled the rest of the day either at the library, reading and doing extra credit homework, or in her room wasting time. Finally it was the end of the day, and she retreated to the bathroom, changing back to her real self took a long refreshing shower. She stepped out after 5 minutes and squeezed her hair out, little droplets of water gliding out and into the basin. Doing so, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and straightened up to look at herself. She saw staring back at her was a beautiful girl, with long red flowing hair, emerald sparkling eyes, blemish free skin but above all, just had this feeling about her telling the world, she was a happy girl. God, how wrong that was. Before, she received the curse, she had always thought of herself as ugly, the way all beautiful, modest girls did. But now, living the way she did, she knew she was stunningly beautiful. She smiled at her reflection and grabbed a towel from the rack. Just as she was finishing wrapping the towel around her slender body the door burst open. 'Shit!' Lily thought, 'I didn't lock the door'.

'Oh My God, I'm sorry! I didn't know anyone was in here' said a shocked Esther, one of Lily's roommates. 'Um... who are you?'

'Oh, sorry. I'm Lily's friend; she said I could shower here.' Lily replied, making something up.

'Oh, ok. I'll just go…yeah um... bye!' Esther replied.

Lily let out a breath. That sure screwed up things. Now she had to either wait for Esther to go or leave being the real Lily and risking more people seeing her. Not that it was Esther's fault, she was a nice girl but her friends stopped her from becoming to "nice" with Lily.

Lily peered around the bathroom door carefully. To her surprise, Esther was gone. The dorm was empty. Lily thanked God, and walked out of the room after becoming Ugly Lily. She hopped into bed and drew her curtains. Her roommates ignored her anyway, so why wait up? Lily closed her eyes and went to sleep, her dreams mingled with memories of times long ago…

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'_Lily, come on! Stop being such a wimp!' _

'_No! Tyler don't. I don't want to go on' Screamed a 10 year old Lily._

'_Lily!' Tyler said annoyed and rolling his eyes._

_Lily glanced at Tyler and finally gave in 'Alright, fine!'_

'_Yes! Go Lily! You won't regret it.' Lily wasn't so sure._

_Lily and Tyler went up and down spinning and twirling. They shared their cage with two other boys, who seemed their age. They both had black hair. One of them wore glasses and they both stood and spoke as if they were king of the world. Lily usually hated these kinds of people but there was something about the guy with the glasses. Even at her age, she knew that they were undeniably good looking, just like her. The ride finished and Lily and Tyler jumped off. Lily glanced back one last time and saw the two boys standing with two blonde girls. Lily scowled and mentally called the girls something she had once heard her sister call someone one the phone. 'Slut!'_

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Hey! Did you like it?? Yay! School starts tomorrow but I've done this chapter! Just to clear up a few things, the last bit was memory in the form of a dream. And guess who the two guys are?? Lily still hasn't made that connection.(I don't think...) 

Next chapter, I will introduce Liz, Lily's best friend at Hogwarts.

Please review and give me your feedback!! Also, I had come up with the whole curse thing but its really bad so please, if you have any ideas, let me know. Virtual tub of Heaven Ice Cream (or in your country whatever really good ice cream is) to anyone who comes up with an ides!

Also Ugly Lily -Disguised Lily

Real Lily- Pretty Lily

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Please review. I know you have such busy social lifes ( or maybe you don't...JKS!) but please. I know I don't always reveiw when i find a story i like but I'll make a deal! I will reveiw more if you do too...(hopeful smile)


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Wow. So sorry for not updating. i've just been so busy and completelly forgotten about fanfiction but I'm back and hopefully here to stay. Anyways, hope you like this chapter. I know it's a bit short but chapters will get longer, I promise! And I know I said Liz would come but I'm considering if she's going to go in or not but if I choose to put her in, she'll come soon.

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Lily woke with a clear mind. Perhaps she was looking at this the wrong way. Just because she was going to the ball didn't mean she would be exposed. It didn't mean someone would take the wrong course of action and set the curse in motion. All it really meant was that she could go in her true form and maybe not be hated for one night. It was a pleasant thought. Lily got out of bed and dressed for a day out, as today was Hogsmeade day. She would look for the perfect dress for the Christmas Ball.

Lily wondered the streets until she came upon the shop she was looking for: "Bertha's Dresses for all Occasions". She stepped inside and the few Hogwarts girls who were already there wrinkled their noses and turned away. Lily ignored this and headed for the young adult witches section. She quickly selected a few that she thought might look good (she had had a lot of practice with her mother) and took them to a changing room. The door locked itself and she changed herself into her true form with a flick of her wand. She took the first dress, an emerald one to match her eyes and swiftly tried it on. It was okay, but it was too cliché and besides, it didn't _feel_ right. She knew when she had found her perfect dress she would be able to feel it. She replaced it with the second one, a dark red one to match her hair. It was the same at the first one, good but not good enough. She took the third and last one and whispered to herself, "Third time lucky!" It was an aquamarine dress that didn't match any part of her body but somehow managed to combine all her features together and the result was… just wow, if Lily could say so herself. Lily smiled at herself in the mirror. Yep this was the one. It _felt_ right. And for the first time since she had heard about the ball she felt excited. Putting the dress on just made her tingle with anticipation. Because what could go wrong with a dress this beautiful? But she knew deep down a lot could go wrong and the dress would probably just egg it on. But life's full of risks isn't it? And one day Lily would have to face them anyway so why not now? Why not have some well deserved fun?

Lily removed the dress and changed herself back to her regular form. She stepped out from the changing rooms and returned the unwanted dresses to their rightful places. She went to the counter to purchase her dress. She handed it over to the shop assistant who looked her up and down and said "Darling, are you sure this is the one you want? It might not go with your…" she gestured to Lily, "…look." Lily sighed, "Yes, I'm sure." she said in a firm voice and handed over he money. The dress was a bit pricey, due to its good quality but she was covered. Her parents had given her a fair amount of money for the Christmas period.

Lily bought lunch and returned to Hogwarts. She stashed the bag with her dress under her bed and went to the library to study. Because, hey! If you didn't have many friends at least you'll always have your studies.

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Hope you liked it! Yes short but i told you before. It will get longer.

Okay. Lets make a deal. You don't have to reveiw i you're to lazy but you do have to refresh your screen like a million times so i get lots of hits. Deal? Okay, coolies:)

No but please. I'd like to know what you think.

xx

Shopper-Mania


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